When In Romania
by theYellowDello
Summary: Theo and Grace split up with a big hole in their relationship.  Is it something they can fix?
1. Chapter 1

-"Grace, I think someone needs to point out to you that your rich, handsome, frenchman of a boyfriend is totally kissable."-was the first thing I heard as I shut the apartment door after a long day of tutoring schoolchildren. I sighed at the prospect of having this conversation again for the thousandth time while I set down my bag, kicked off my shoes, and ducked into the bathroom of our small one-bedroom apartment in an effort to evade my over-zealous roommate.

"He's not my boyfriend, Leila, and I'm fully aware of his...kissable...ness." The memory of kissing a french boy is not one easily repressed, let me tell you.

"You say that like you have some experience," my new-ish friend urged, once again searching for information on our relationship. "I can't believe you've been hanging out with that boy for the past two weeks without even attempting to smooch him!"

"It hasn't been two weeks. He arrived in Romania just nine days ago, and I've only seen him a few times," I reminded her.

"Still! You two have the hots for each other. We can all tell. And Ana was saying how he saw you out the window and ran after you something desperate." Leila pushed me onto my bed and stood with her arms folded, staring at me, waiting for me to spill. I never did hold up well to this particular variety of peer pressure, and I think she was beginning to pick up on it.

"Fine! Fine. I met Theo at the beginning of the summer. Happy?" Maybe if I gave Leila just a bit of something to moon over, then she'd finally shut up.

"No! You've got to tell me everything! You two have a history! How can I support you emotionally if I don't even know what it is? Seriously, Grace, you are making it impossible for me to complete my duties as a good roommate and charity-volunteer-sister-lady." She gave me her most serious look.

"Oh gawd, you are so ridiculous," I told her.

"Please, Grace? Pl-eeease?" she pleaded, going so far as to get down on her knees and beg, taking my hand in hers. Geez, what was wrong with this girl? After living with me for six weeks she already feels she's entitled to all the details of my life.

"Leila! Just stop it-okay?"

"Not until you promise to tell me what's going on between you and that complete dreamboat that prevents you from kissing him every ten seconds. He'd let you, you know," Leila said.

"No, I don't think he would," I said. I had left in a rather pathetic position after all. There was no reason to believe he would forgive me so simply, not after I'd lied to him so thoroughly. No, our chance was over. I blew it.

Leila seemed to have picked up on my doleful mood, because she sat up on the bed with me, still grasping my hand, and asked softly,

"What happened?"

Ooh, she was good. I was reminded of the way Emma would comfort me when I was agitated.

"Well," I began searching for words, "I lied to him. He only liked me because I wasn't fake, because I was different and honest, and I was lying to him the whole time." I had been trying to avoid even thinking about this anymore, but I guess I had to explain sometime. "I don't think he can trust me again."

Leila gave me a small hug. "Oh Grace. I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be something hard for you to talk about."

"No, it's alright," I told her, giving a little smile while brushing away a couple stray tears. "It's good to have someone to talk to about it, I think. I am having a hard time being around him so much."

"But Grace, are you certain he's mad? He seems to like you."

"He's being polite. You can't spend a week with someone and then completely ignore them, you know? Theo is nothing if not decent." I didn't think I'd be able to completely forgive myself for ruining it anytime soon.

"Walking you home, asking you to coffee, those of not the acts of a person who is only 'being polite', Grace," Leila said. She was clearly reading too much into it.

"No, actually, I think it does in our case. He probably feels like he needs to get to know me as me, just so we can work together without discomfort." That was something he'd probably do. The scars of our last attempt at dating were still there though. He knew better than to try that again.

Leila crinkled her forehead, a little confused by that statement, but didn't push it. I sighed again, wanting to lie there and mope for several hours, but I knew that if I wanted to get over this fiasco, I'd have to actively set my mind on other things. Thinking of Theo was painful. The best thing to do was go to work. I hauled myself to my feet, picked up the bag I had set down not ten minutes earlier, and slipped on my shoes again as my roommate watched.

"Leila, I'm just going to go finish some paperwork I had forgotten about. I'll be back before too late, okay?" I said.

Leila let me go without another word as I headed back to the school.


	2. Chapter 2

I sighed again as I pulled open the creaky iron gate in front of the schoolhouse. The sun was setting. It was nearly dusk now, I had spent my entire day painting walls and putting desks together and tutoring the few students we had so far, and here I was again. There really was paperwork that needed doing, just not necessarily urgently, but I was sure that Ana and the rest of the team would appreciate a respite from paperwork for a day. I just needed to not think about Monte Carlo for a few hours. Oh damn. Thought about it again. I just needed to not think about Theo, or leaving Theo, or lying to Theo, or wanting to fix everything and explain it all to Theo, and especially not kissing Theo. Crap. And I had been doing so well until he showed up here. Sort of.

Knowing it was going to be a long night, I poured myself a cup of cold coffee and settled myself at the table with a freshly sharpened pencil in the room we had dubbed "the office." Paperwork beckoned.

An hour and half in with the government teacher-approval forms, I let my tired eyes shut themselves for a moment, resting my head on the desk.

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"Grace?" a familiar voice interrupted my dream.

"Grace," said the voice again and I felt someone shake my arm, "Grace, wake up."

Not wanting to open my eyes, I only groggily shifted away from the voice, trying to ignore it. I heard the screech of a chair being pulled, and the bothersome person sat beside me.

"You can't stay here all night," the voice said and the french accent identified the intruder as Theo. Great.

"Go away," I mumbled. Really, I did not want to deal with this right now. Or ever, even.

"Grace, you've got to get up. Honestly, you American women. What were you thinking, coming here alone at night?" He shook me harder. He sighed softly when I didn't respond. There seemed to be a lot of sighing going on lately. Our situation called for it, I supposed.

"Let me take you home, Grace."

I continued to ignore him, but he wasn't having it.

"Grace, if you don't get up right now, I'm going to pick you up and carry you home."

"No you won't," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut even tighter. All the better not to see you with, Theo. All the better not to look into your mega-attractive face.

"I tell you I am completely serious," he said, and with that, he lifted me from my seat at the table, carrying me in his arms.

My eyes snapped open.

"Alright! Alright. I'll walk. Set me down." He did so, and I teetered for a moment on my still-drowsy legs. His arms came up to steady me, and I finally took a look at his handsome angular face. He was grinning at me and my sluggish state. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to look angry, but probably failing to look anything but half-asleep.

"That wasn't necessary, you know. I would have gotten up soon on my own." He ignored that and took my arm, escorting me down the staircase, probably worried I'd tumble down the way things were going.

"Why are you here, Theo?" I asked as the thought occurred to me. We were all supposedly done for the day. There was no real reason to come back.

"I was looking for you," he told me. "Don't looked so shocked. I wanted to talk to you, so I went to your apartment and your roommate said you came here a couple hours ago." His eyes searched my face for an explanation, and I looked away.

"I needed to distract myself," I said, and left it at that though he was clearly asking for more.

We left the schoolhouse in silence. Theo was no longer supporting me as I had come to enough to handle myself. I glanced at him beside me, and he seemed to be searching for words. If I was in any other mood besides totally exhausted, I would have tried to make conversation, ease the tension between us. As it was though, I couldn't form enough coherent thought to even give it a proper try.

"Listen," Theo began as we walked, "This might not be the best time to talk, but I don't know when we're going to have another moment alone." He looked at me, gauging my response. "I was with you for one week, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about you for two months. You're different, Grace. You really are. And I like you. I know I hurt you when I left in the middle of your apology. I'm sorry I didn't come back in time to see you off. When I finally came to my senses and went looking for you, I found that you had left only five minutes earlier. I didn't even know your real name. I had to ask around until I found someone who had heard your friends call you Grace, which is a lovely name and fits you much better than Cordelia. You might have noticed how I'm saying it much more than a normal person would talking to you. I've been looking over my shoulder for weeks, hoping that I'll somehow run into you again, but then I did and you barely talk to me. Grace. Tell me how to fix this. I don't know what to do."

I was blown away by this, suddenly fully awake. We must have stopped walking sometime during his little speech. I now found myself facing him, searching his eyes. He was so incredibly frank and honest. I occasionally wondered if this had more to do with him being french, or him being Theo, but I was coming to believe it was more just him.

"Theo, it's not your fault. It's all my fault," I said as I put my hand on his arm to emphasize my point. "I wasn't saying much to you because I didn't think you could have forgiven me for lying, that's all."

Relief washed over his face. With his arms around my waist, he pulled me into a tight embrace and rested his head on my shoulder.

"And I was thinking that you hated me."

"Theo! I could never hate you. You're wonderful and fun and good and flawed and perfect."

"_Dieu merci,_" he said and kissed me. It was a chaste and tender kiss, but the feel of his lips on mine still sent chills all over me. My hands found their ways up his back and into his dark curls. He broke off the kiss much too soon.

His hand finding its way into mine, he asked with a grin, "So what do you say to giving us a try?"


End file.
